I am Sophie, a Swedish woman by birth but English by adoption. I have a little mud hotel in the beautiful and ancient West African town of Djenne, Mali. WWW.HOTELDJENNEDJENNO.COM Because of unstable political
situation, tourism has ground to a halt. Hotel still open! But hotel staff mainly working in Bogolan studio now: www.malimali.org check out our fab online shop!

Monday, January 11, 2016

Ground Control to Major Tom

How strange. I didn't know him but I am shedding real tears.

Some people die and you say; “oh,
that’s a shame! “ “Oh I liked him/her” or something similar.But the demise of Bowie is more major. It provokes a more profound response.

It is evening. I have
called Baba to bring the Armagnac over. I am settling in for a wake. I have put on a “Best of Bowie” DVD . David
Bowie is performing Ziggy Stardust at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1973.

A large part of western humanity must be watching "the best of Bowie" DVD's tonight so I am plugging
directly into the Zeitgeist even from my out of the way Mali position.... Birgit and Andrea have been here. We have
danced to Jean Jeanie and Rebel Rebel.They are now gone and I am finding myself once more spellbound by Starman,
Space Oddity, Ziggy Stardust , Ashes to Ashes; all the epic ones. And he was a
master of the Epic of course.

It is shocking when one’s immortals die: it is a wake-up call
and it feels like a betrayal. It shakes one’s world- how can it be possible? We
were all young and we were all immortal and now our pillars are crumbling and
falling and soon it is all over...

Some of my heroes can be dead and it is OK because I am used
to it: I am thinking of people like Goethe; Mozart, Martin Luther King, Jimi Hendrix and
Janis Joplin. But some of them are just not allowed to die because they are so
much part of life as I know it! I am surprised at how much I am grieving David
Bowie. I dread the demise of Bob Dylan!

“Now its time to leave
the capsule if you dare”

“I am stepping through the door and I am floating in a most
peculiar way ...The stars looks very different today... Planet Earth is blue
and there’s nothing I can do...I think
my spaceship knows which way to go...